[johnlgalt]

Hi, all. I did my research, and I'm using a 'spare' MX5500 so I'm not in any real trouble, but as noted in the title, after the initial flashing of factory-to-ddwrt.img I cannot access the node I've flashed (again, spare node not actually in use).

I read the Wiki, I read the pinned posts here, and I'm 95% sure I downloaded the correct files (the current builds for 10 April 2025 in the MX5500 folder). I Had a bit of trouble getting to the correct ca interface at first on the node, and tried the shortcut /fwupdate.html page, and it never updated (pressing the button showed activity in the browser tab, but nothing actually happened, after about an hour wait I killed the tab and reconnected and it was still the LinkSys interface). While still on the stock fw, I noticed that after that first attempt, it actually joined my network since it had all the settings to do so over WiFi. So, I completely reset it (Again, LinkSyS fw) so even my custom IP address was gone, and then I was able to get in with default password, which the LinkSys fw forced me to change, and then I was able to access the ca menus and manually flash the file.

Thing is, though, I cannot access DD-WRT mini or whatever is on here now. The light indicates it is seeing something, and network connectivity lights are on, but I've tried 2 different machines, one, a modified Dell laptop with ChromeOS Flex on it, and the other, my actual desktop running Windows 11 24H2, by disconnecting my existing network from my desktop switch and plugging in the flashed node to the switch. WiFi was manually disabled on both machines as well, to isolate the machine and network.

When loading the standard 192.168.1.1 IP, nothing happens, and eventually the browser says whatever its proprietary message for no connectivity happens to be. On the Flexbook, naturally, it was Chrome browser, but on the desktop, I've tried Chrome, Firefox, Firefox Nightly, Floorp, Arc, and Edge.

In every case, both computers simply report that there is no internet connectivity and nothing else happens. I've tried a different cable, different port on the MX5500, even the 'Internet'
port, and power cycled both computers and the node multiple times.

I'm good with CLI instructions, but I have no idea how to even begin here because even a ping is not going through to the node. I've tried both my custom IP from the stock fw build and 192.168.1.1, and nothing. Checking ipconfig I see that my physical Ethernet NICs are showing APIPA 'IPs' so that is not helpful, but coupled with the ipconfig results, is not actually surprising.

So, did I just make a paperweight? If so, I'm a lot more leery about trying again with one of my currently live nodes - but I really need to get an alternate fw on here. LinkSys's fw has a massive problem with the device list, in that if it fills up too quickly, it generates a 2123 error and becomes unresponsive to both app and direct login, and I am unable to add / remove devices, or really, anything. More on that can be read here:

https://smith6612.me/2024/09/16/linksys-mesh-router-velop-error-2123-please-fix-it/

I've had to perform 6 different complete from scratch setups after full factory resets - LinkSys CS is a joke, this is all they end up telling me to do after troubleshooting from their end for hours on end - every single time.

If I could afford to replace them, I would not be here.

So, what say ye? Bricked? Stubborn? Different IP that I don't know about?

Also, on a side note, where in the world is the user control panel so I can change my password?

[kernel-panic69]

Ensure your browser isn't automatically redirecting to https / disable https-only mode.

Profile link for forum to change password is under "Quick Links" at upper right of page.

[johnlgalt]

Yeah, Chrome haş enforced https, with the setting locked and unable to disable, I'll try in Fx and other browsers where I can still disable it (I have Advanced Protection on my Google account and that seems to lock the browser to https lol).

And thanks for the quick links mention - it seems that part of the page doesn't work at all in Arc - works fine in Chrome and Firefox.

[kernel-panic69]

And this is why I recommend portable browsers, private or incognito mode, not connected to anything on the internet, including being logged in to a Google, Firefox, et al. anything when working with DD-WRT.

[johnlgalt]

Tried new profiles in Firefox, and it still changes http to https - even with every possible security feature turned off *and* with https only turned off *and* with an exception for 192.168.1.1 set to never change to https - and yet it changes it to https every time.

Strangely enough, Edge, of all browsers, respects the http. I made a new profile for Edge as well, and again turned off all the security and privacy features (since I'm not connected to a network atm) and yet the page will not load.

I've dug out an old, old old Win10 box and am currently booting it, gonna make sure WiFi is off, and how things fare there.

Oddly, though, when I connected the node directly to my PC this last time and then disabled the other NICs in the system, it came back with an attlocal.net DNS reference in ipconfig - which is odd, since it was only connected to this one node.

I'm beginning to wonder if I need to reset the node and try the flash again (assuming it b0rked somehow), but I suspect that will not work either. But my current theory is that it is actually still running some sort of stock LinkSys fw, as it is telling my PC that it can see the mesh system and seems to be trying to connect to it.

And this is all after a total ipconfig /release on all my NICs, coupled with resetting the DNS settings from custom (CloudFlare) to default (DHCP). The computer should not have any idea that attlocal.net is my DNS - but it does.

Also, yes, being on AT&T FttH, I know the instinct is that it is connecting to the WiFi on the AT&T RG - but no, I purposefully disabled that RGs wireless and only use the ones from the Mesh.

Let's see what happens with the (truly) standalone machine.

Also, your note for portable browsers is taken with a grain of ... chagrin, if you will ... here. I have Floorp running as a portable browser, but didn't use that one, I used the installed version lol. I shoulda tried the portable, of course....

[johnlgalt]

No go there either.

Thing is, the LED is solid blue, which according to Linksys, is an indication that it is 'connected', whereas purple is supposed to indicate it is ready to be set up. I didn't think that would matter since I had flashed to DD-WRT, but maybe that is an indicator of something as well?

[kernel-panic69]

I don't use profiles on browsers. The default "Person 1" without any login to any upstream anything is my usual
modus operandi. I'm thinking the possibility of a bad flash or bad firmware image kicking back to OEM firmware.
The SoC itself I believe has the WAN port disabled by default after flashing to DD-WRT, so perhaps you need to
check all wired ports and wireless. The usual "ddwrt" or "dd-wrt" SSID should be visible if it is running DD-WRT.

[johnlgalt]

Took my cell and let it scan for active WiFi right next to the node Using Net-X Pro. Never saw anything with ddwrt or anything like it in 5 minutes.

I'm calling it a brick. I can't find an IP address that it might be using, and ipconfig shows the standalone machine has generated an APIPA address (169.254.x.x) for the NIC (only physical one in this machine) that the node is currently connected to. Also triple verified both Cat 6A patch cords I'm using (that I made myself, to boot) on my Southwire cable tester. All 8 lines perfectly fine.

So, now we move into how can I recover from this - I'm assuming that involves cracking it open and using the 5 or 6 pin 'jack' I saw in one of the pics from the links for the MX5500 wiki, and building some sort of cable to correctly connect to those pins and access it via some CLI term or another, right?

Anyway - since I have this standalone system set up, and I still have 5 nodes active (one of which is pure redundancy that I can take down) I'm tempted to try again - but I'm thinking that with the reports of this build being persnickety for a few folks, maybe I should try with an older build.

Am I on the right track here, kp?

[lexridge]

Have you tried toggling the power switch on and off three times (waiting 4 seconds between each cycle)? On the forth power up, it should revert to the opposite boot partition and boot up to the last good firmware.

[kernel-panic69]

x2 on the power cycle trick to boot to the other partition if you have tried *all* ethernet ports on the device and have not received an IP address - going back to what I mentioned about the WAN port being disabled. Serial recovery would be worst-case scenario. I would try an older build for first flash. If you *do* need to do serial recovery, you'll need a pitch adapter and USB-TTL-UART 3.3V level-shifting adapter to use minicom, PuTTY, etc. Even if you don't need to do it, it's always good to have the capability just in case things go awry.

[johnlgalt]

Ah, no, I did not know of the power switch toggle trick. Nice.

I'll give that a go.

As for the devices on the side, I'll look into them if this latest does not work.

As for ports, yes, I tried all three LAN and on the off chance something was b0rked the WAN port as well. In addition, I connected the standalone machine to a LAN port on an existing node in my current network setup and it picked right up, using the same cable I'm trying to access the flashed node with, to boot, so I know that the gigabit port in the machine is good and the cable is also good through actual use versus previous meter testing.

Hopefully I can get this one up and running lol. Assuming the partition switch trick works, would you recommend that I continue to flash the most current r60662 build and test it, since, again, this is a truly spare node that I pulled out of the box since it was not in use at all?

Also, I may not have mentioned this before, but I'm not using these as a mesh system, to be honest - I'm using them as glorified APs. I built my home 6 years ago and it was pre-wired with Cat 5e into every room, but I replaced some of that cabling with Cat 6A myself (basement to first floor). I then approximated the line lengths from the basement to the second floor jacks and realized I should get reasonable good gigabit connectivity so I terminated the appropriate ones where the nodes are, down to a patch panel, from which I then ran patch cords to an 8 port switch, to which my main node is also connected - ergo, glorified APs instead of wireless mesh.

Would I be able to replace the main node and set it up for DHCP for the satellite nodes and use them as they are, running the LinkSys fw with a wired backhaul to the main running DD-WRT? My thought is that, if I get this flash nonsense working currently, I can set up the first node as the Main node running DD-WRT, then swap the old and new main nodes, and flash that one I took down, swap it with one of the satellite nodes with LinkSys fw, etc. - basically swapping them out one by one with a minimal amount of downtime.

Or will the satellite nodes not play nicely because they are not longer dealing with a LinkSys firmware for the main node? My 'guess' is that connectivity should remain fine, especially if I duplicate the network set up on the DD-WRT flashed node before I replace it, so that, at least from a DHCP standpoint, the satellites should think everything is the same.

What am I missing, if anything, in this supposition?

[johnlgalt]

The power switch trick worked, upon which time it booted back into the Linksys firmware.

So, what I've done is completely redownload the files on my phone so there's no download manager involved. Transfer them to a USB device. Started the process all over again on the node and it updated and then gave me the message saying that the machine would reboot and not to do anything and I clicked okay and now it's got a big circle going around in a circle on there and I haven't touched it since I've seen the lights changed many times from the default royal blue to a light lavender to a cyan color several times and now it is solid cyan but opening a new tab without altering or closing the old tab obviously, and attempting to access the default IP address is still not working. I'm going to let it sit there for about half an hour before I do anything else.

[lexridge]

If it doesn't get booted into dd-wrt within 8-10 minutes, it ain't happening. Use the 3x power switch trick to get back to OEM and download r60137 or r60269 factory-to-ddwrt and give one of those a try. Those releases were both very solid on both my mx4300 and mx8500. If that works, you will then need to flash the dd-wrt-webflash.bin version in order to get all the features enabled. The factory-to-ddwrt is a much smaller file for initial flashing that is lacking many options.

[johnlgalt]

That was gonna be my next question, if the factory to dd-wrt image might itself be the problem.

I didn't have a chance to work on this today, but I have tomorrow off, so I'll be tackling it starting tomorrow evening through the weekend.

Fingers crossed!

[Bitflip]

Hi, I recently bought a mr7500 and ran into the same problem you are having flashing factory to dd-wrt.

Here is a trick I have used a few time to unFUBAR a DHCP network.

1. setup your PC/tablet so it is an auto config DHCP client. No IP or gateway configured.

2. hook that PC to the router on an ethernet port (not the WAN port), once the link LED indicates success, do step 3

3. open a cmd or konsole window and type: arp -a

4. it should show the router gateway addr (in my case, 10.39.1.1). ??

5. an ifconfig or ipconfig command should show your new PC address.

then you can point your web browser to the gateway and fix the network settings. And then reboot the router to make sure you are still good.

I have flashed dd-wrt on a number of routers and it always came back with 192.168.1.1 UNTIL this mr7500??? I have no good explanation for why 10.39.1.1 was the gateway..

Maybe that will help!

cheers

PS.. After the factory to dd-wrt firmware is working, download and update using the dd-wrt-webflash version of dd-wrt. Do a "reset to factory settings" per https://forum.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Factory_Defaults. I did a factory reset by holding reset for 30 seconds while the router was still powered up!!! This should be done before modifying the configuration.

Do not do a 30-30-30 reset or the dreaded reset while plugging in the power cord.